Georgian Parliament Speaker: Georgia’s benchmark is Ukrainian People, not Zelenskyy

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said the Georgian Government’s benchmark was not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but the Ukrainian people, whom it wanted to stand by.

Papuashvili’s comments came after the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on the situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

When asked whether there was a double standard, given that Azerbaijan and Armenia were not present in The Hague during the vote on the UN resolution concerning Ukraine’s occupied territories - which Georgia supported - while Armenia’s EU accession was being discussed and Georgia was being criticised, Papuashvili said that Georgia acted in line with its national interests and that he could not comment on other countries’ decisions.

“We act in line with our national interests; every country does the same, and I cannot engage in assessing the decisions of other states. Georgia’s position may seem surprising only for one reason. On the backdrop of the hostile rhetoric and policies pursued by the Ukrainian authorities and the President against the Georgian people, some may wonder why the Georgian Government still behaves this way and supports such decisions”, the Speaker said.

“Our benchmark is not Zelenskyy. Our benchmark is the Ukrainian people, whom we want to stand by”, he concluded.